Union minister Athawale seeks thorough probe into death of IIT Bombay student and caste bias charge

Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday visited the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay on Wednesday and demanded a thorough probe into the death of a firstyear Dalit student and the allegations that he was facing caste discriminationDarshan Solanki 18 died allegedly after jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the premier institute on Sunday Solanki who hailed from Ahmedabad was a firstyear student of the BTech Chemical courseThe IIT Bombay on Tuesday rejected charges of caste bias in the institute and said initial inputs from the deceaseds friends suggested there was no discrimination and urged students to wait till police and internal probes into the case are overSpeaking to reporters here on Wednesday Athawale said I have demanded a thorough probe into the matter There are allegations of the BTech student facing caste discrimination I have asked the authorities to probe this angle as wellAction should be taken if required he saidAlso Read IIT Bombay student suicide case No discrimination against studentrsquoAthawale said Solanki called his father on Sunday and informed him that except one paper his other first semester exams went wellHis father had assured him not to worry and told him he would visit Mumbai soon However halfanhour later Solanki jumped from his hostel and died he saidIt is a very serious incident In 2014 a Dalit student ended his life in a similar way Six months back another student outside IITB had died by suicide I am also aware that two students from IIT Madras had also died by suicide Such incidents are increasing and they should be probed properly the minister saidAthawale also said he will make efforts to facilitate some financial aid to Solankis family members from Maharashtra and Gujarat governmentsI have sought an appointment with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis he said adding that action should be taken if requiredThe Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle a student group had called Solankis death an institutional murderHowever the institute on Tuesday said it takes utmost precautions to make the campus as inclusive as possible and it has a zero tolerance for any discrimination by facultyCaste identity is never disclosed to any one whether students or faculty once the admission is done and the institute sensitises students to not seek proxy information such as ranks in entrance examsIt also gives strong warnings against discrimination right from the time students enter IIT While no steps can be 100 per cent effective discrimination by students if at all it occurs is an exception the premier institute saidThe IIT Bombay has an SCST student cell where students can reach in case of any issues including discrimination There have been very few complaints to the cell whether against faculty or other students over the past many years and only one case was found to have substance and strict action has been taken it said in the statementThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever